1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to a metal fiber end sleeve and a method for the production of the metal end sleeve for a flexible fiber-optic light guide or optical fiber bundle.
2. Description of the Background Art
A flexible fiber-optic light guide is defined as a guide that contains one or more optical fibers that are bundled together within an outer jacket. For example, several hundred individual fibers can be contained in such a light guide. In a complete transmission system, it is necessary to couple such guides both to one another and also to devices. The light guide, also called a fiber-optic bundle, must therefore be terminated by an optical coupler. A fiber-optic light guide is therefore generally terminated with an end sleeve.
From DE 36 20 368 C2, it is known to push a glass tube section onto the end of an optical fiber bundle, to melt this glass tube section over a defined length by heating, and thus to shrink it onto the fiber bundle as the glass tube collapses. Very good fiber end sleeves are produced with this method, but its technically extraordinarily exacting and time-consuming implementation is a drawback to the method.
From GB 1 595 163 is known the production of a fiber end sleeve that is made of thermoplastic material, in which a sleeve that is made of a suitably molded thermoplastic and thermally bonded material is shrunken onto the fiber bundle end by means of pressure and at the same time is welded to the sleeve of the light guide. The disadvantage to such a fiber end sleeve is its low thermal resistance.
From U.S. Pat. No. 3,681,164 a metal fiber end sleeve is known in which the end of the fiber bundle is cemented or glued to the sleeve with an inorganic silicate cement, a solder glass, or a litharge (PbO)-glycerine cement. In this cementing or gluing of the fiber bundle into a sleeve (gluing with other organic adhesives, e.g., epoxide resin, is also known), very great care must be taken, and only skilled personnel can produce qualitatively good fiber end sleeves. Moreover, the disadvantage exists that even this method is very time-consuming. Furthermore, complete alignment between the individual fibers often is not possible; as a result, a loss of light can occur over the coupled pair of such end sleeves.